Families around the world create and retain significant amounts of information about themselves and their extended family. Historically this has been in the form of photo albums, videos (e.g., 8 MM, VHS, Beta tapes, etc.), letters and verbal lore. Traditionally, these are passed from one generation to another, often with limited or no background, or with scant information which slowly erodes the value of the data. Even worse, all too often this information is totally lost in the face of disasters or simple neglect.
Much of this data is lost in the course of time. Even when it is not, people spend significant amounts of time exploring archives and attics to learn more about their ancestors. The collection of this data, even when it is already available through electronic means, is tedious due to the need to traverse the relationships, identify the correct contacts that are relatives and then extract the extended data into an archive meant to provide a growing history of the family to pass on through the generations.
Tracking and capturing family history beyond the basic family tree is commonly an ad-hoc behavior that can include online and offline activities. In these cases, both on and off line, the work of tracking down the contacts, locating and collecting the information, and putting in place a retention system is performed manually. Additionally, the heavy lifting of doing most of these steps is left to a few, or often one, member(s) of the family that are willing to put in the effort to pull together a family history. Even with that level of effort it is usually limited to brief bios, contact information and perhaps a photo or two all put in the context of the family tree, perhaps provided by a service or built through sheer legwork by the organizer.